Potassium dosing

[Grant W]

I've been reading about Potassium dosing for a while now. Has anybody been doing this? I was wondering if there is any connection to the dosing of Iodine/Iodide in the reef tanks, the main element being Potassium Iodide. The past use was said to improve the coral coloration, aid crustations in moulting and even things like pulsing Zenia needing levels of iodine in the watercolumn or they would stop pulsing. The reading I've been doing lately talks about mainly potassium dosing for the health of zoanthids. I would be interested in some input on this subject as I had stopped dosing Iodide a while back and was wondering if this had been part of the reason I've had trouble with some zoanthids lately that in the past had thrived in my system. I have restarted dosing the Iodide at the same dose I used in the past (5ml/50gals weekly) I know even slightly high levels are toxic and I have a Salifert Iodine kit so I will be monitoring the levels. Lets hear what you guys think. Grant

 

[northbay-reefer]

I have heard that banana is high in potasium, maybe I'll start feeding my fishies banana lol j/k

 

[Grant W]

Well you are the head Banana

 

[kodiak23]

I dosed a Red Sea Color B (Potassium) for a few months at half of the recommended dosage cause I didn't have a potassium test kit. I was getting great color, but I change way too many things on my tank to know what is doing what. I've been trying to get back to a baseline, so I can try out one new thing at a time I think I read a while back that its unknown if\how potassium is depleted in a reef, do you know what your potassium level is at? Also, I am sure you have read that potassium is one of the key parts of zeovit and maybe any ULNS system. My take is potassium dosing isn't needed in a non ULNS, as long as we do water changes, but could be wrong

 

[Grant W]

Cody, maybe that is part of my trouble. My big tank, even though its almost nine years old has for the last six months or so been running zeros on nitrates and phosphates which I believe is part of the trouble with some of the zoas. I'm probably bouncing around ulns numbers. Maybe dosing the potassium Iodide again will help. I dont have a potassium test kit but I do have an Iodine kit. I am also backing off on my weekly water changes and gong to two weeks for a while. Did you say your corals were improving in color?

 

[eternalreef]

I used to dose iodide,for inverts and potassium to try and bring out purples in sps. I saw no change or improvement from the potassium. I switched from iodide to lugols iodine and got the result I was looking for.

Have you tried amino acids? In my experience if you want to "dirty" your water that is the way I would go.

 

[kodiak23]

My SPS are still ok, not great color. But growing well, my turaki is about to grow into its neighbor My zoas are doing great, the best since Ive had my tank. Its great to see my tank move from too clean to the dirty side. I think its all about finding a happy medium and observing how each coral responds.

 

[Grant W]

I dont want to get into the aminos at this point just not clean it as frequently allowing a bit more buildup. I'm pretty sure last year when I changed to the larger skimmer things started to get a bit too clean. I've also backed off on the Gfo and carbon. Not running full time. My corals are great as far as color its just the zoas I've been bugged by and Im trying to see if im missing something. Thx for the info.

Cory, great to hear the corals are still doing well. I told you you would be giving frags away in no time.

 

[Reef Bass]

Grant, while I think you could build a case that your tank is low nutrient, I believe you've still got way too much bright color, rapid growth and not just fish but whale poop to qualify as UNLS.

My understanding is that iodide dosing is different from potassium, and there one wants iodide and not iodine, which contradicts eternalreef's experience.

I have a bottle of Brightwell's Potassium supplement. It is a blend of potassium sulfate and potassium chloride. I confess that despite my usual well measured, well tested approach to reefing, in this case I've inconsistently applied unmeasured squirts at random intervals, which, big surprise, hasn't had any effect that I can determine.

 

[northbay-reefer]

"unmeasured squirts at random intervals, which, big surprise, hasn't had any effect that I can determine"

Most guys like to do this so I can understand why you are doing it ... lol

 

[Grant W]

:lmao:

 

[Reef Bass]

You forgot the "inconsistently applied" part of the dosing / treatment. That's another key way to ensure no impact.